Step Up Oklahoma supporters attended a Feb. 12 rally to support the plan before it failed a vote in the state House of Representatives later that day.

The Step Up Oklahoma plan to raise taxes on cigarettes, fuel and energy failed to pass, but it highlighted a gap in state campaign finance laws that keeps much of the funding and spending on both sides of the issue a secret.

Step Up Oklahoma, which billed itself as a grassroots coalition of business and civic groups, rolled out its plan in early January. By the time a key House vote occurred almost six weeks later, the organization, operating as a private company with unknown owners, had bought or enabled television and radio ads, robo-calls, mailers, endorsements, one-to-one outreach, and the deployment of registered lobbyists of supporting companies. A top public-relations firm was hired to coordinate the Step Up campaign in support of an array of bills, including House Bill 1033xx, which contained most of the proposed new taxes.

In the end, that measure failed to clear the three-fourths majority in the House required to raise taxes.

But the campaign left a strong impression, drawing public support from more than 40 organizations. Left unknown about Step Up and opposing groups was how much was spent and where the money came from.

The reason is a gap in transparency requirements in Oklahoma ethics laws: Although disclosure of sources and amounts of money spent are typically required when groups directly try to influence the election of candidates and votes on state ballot questions, little must be disclosed when a group or business tries to influence legislation.

The exception is activity by registered lobbyists, but even that disclosure is limited, and Step Up’s and its opponents’ efforts are not considered lobbying under state law.

The Step Up model, which used a limited liability company of the same name devoted to the cause, could prove a model for future efforts to push or oppose legislation.

Advertising

Federal broadcast regulations offer one of the few places to check the disclosures of groups like Step Up, and that’s only if they buy advertising on local TV or radio. But the information disclosed is often not comprehensive.

Step Up representatives declined to disclose the total amount of the group’s advertising budget. Based on political broadcast disclosures, Oklahoma Watch was able to identify at least $27,000 in advertising on three TV stations and four radio stations. That doesn’t include advertising at News on 6 in Tulsa and News 9 in Oklahoma City. On public disclosure forms, those stations redact the amounts spent on local political issues; most other broadcast stations leave those amounts on public filings. It also doesn’t include ads in newspapers, digital ads or billboards. The Federal Communications Commission requires broadcast companies to disclose political-ad buyers but not the amounts spent unless the issues have a national scope.

“Initially, a paid advertising campaign was not planned,” said Crystal Coon of the Gooden Group, the Edmond public-relations firm that worked with Step Up Oklahoma on the campaign. “It became necessary in order to respond to well-funded opposition about the Step Up plan.”

At least three other groups weighed in on the Step Up effort or higher taxes with a form of advertising. The wind industry’s local group, OK Wind Power, said it spent more than $220,000 on a public education campaign in recent weeks that didn’t mention candidates or legislation.

Sheila Curley, whose Tulsa public relations firm, sixPR, handled the OK Wind Power effort, said the pro-wind advertising was spent mostly on TV and print ads, with a small portion on radio and digital ads. She said the effort is ongoing.

“These ads are part of a comprehensive public education campaign to showcase the economic benefits of the wind industry to rural communities, school districts and landowners,” Curley said in an email.

Another group, No New Oklahoma Taxes, formed in mid-January and spent about $51,000 on ESPN and Fox News Channel advertising in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa cable TV markets, according to political advertising disclosures required by the FCC. It spent at least $10,000 on radio ads.

The anti-tax group’s officers include Monica Wilke and John Collison, who worked at the Oklahoma Farm Bureau until last summer.

In an email, Collison didn’t disclose the group’s funding sources. He emphasized its grassroots representation and the ever-changing tax burden on businesses and individuals.

No New Oklahoma Taxes is a 501(c)(4), or “social welfare” nonprofit and, unlike Step Up Oklahoma, generally may spend no more than half its money on politics.

Another social welfare nonprofit, the Oklahoma chapter of Americans for Prosperity, focused its recent advertising against tax increases on digital ads on Twitter and Facebook. The group typically doesn’t disclose its social media or advertising budget.

John Tidwell, director of the group’s Oklahoma chapter, said defeat of the Step Up plan was a victory for taxpayers, especially low-income families. He said Americans for Prosperity was also encouraged by budget reform efforts pushed by some lawmakers, including Medicaid audits.

“AFP continues to urge House and Senate leadership to take up those reforms, which will give us better government with less dependence on taxpayer dollars.”

Even though Step Up, No New Oklahoma Taxes and Americans for Prosperity promoted or opposed a specific tax plan that eventually led to the bill that failed in the House, their efforts are not considered lobbying under state law. The IRS requires nonprofits to offset lobbying spending with educational efforts. No requirement exists for limited liability companies such as Step Up Oklahoma.

Trevor Brown / Oklahoma Watch

Step Up Oklahoma supporters write on an Oklahoma Education Association board about why they support the plan.

Rallies and T-Shirts

Outside of advertising, it is also unknown how much was spent by groups for or against the Step Up plan on public relations, marketing, supplies and other logistics.

What was spent, for example, on an effort to bring hundreds of educators and Step Up Oklahoma supporters to a rally at the State Capitol before the vote on HB 1033xx?

Many of the participants, wearing Oklahoma Education Association, “Vote Yes” or Step Up Oklahoma T-shirts, arrived in red-and-white charter buses, similar to the ones that brought in energy industry employees when they protested a gross production tax increase last year.

Doug Folks, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Education Association, said his group only encouraged its members and worked with administrators to attend the event. He said OEA didn’t pay for any of the transportation and allowed local communities to determine how to get their people to the Capitol.

Folks added that he heard Step Up Oklahoma coalition members provided some of the buses and resources to transport supporters, but he didn’t have specifics on costs or who paid for what.

Jeff Raymond / Oklahoma Watch

Step Up Oklahoma supporters react to the apparent failure of the plan during a Feb. 12 vote in the state House of Representatives.

Legislative Advocacy Rules

Oklahoma Ethics Commission rules require disclosure or impose restrictions on a wide range of expenses by groups or individuals trying to influence political races or state questions.

But Oklahoma political-spending law is largely silent when it comes to money spent on issues or proposed legislation, such as the Step Up tax plan or those fighting it. That is also the case in other states.

Because this type of spending does not “refer to a clearly identified candidate” nor is directed at “supporting or opposing a state question,” it doesn’t meet two of the main triggers requiring disclosure for electioneering communications or independent expenditures.

Electioneering communications are those coming 30 days before a primary or 60 days before a general election that mention a specific candidate. Independent expenditures are any political spending that isn’t coordinated with a campaign.

A limited liability company, such as Step Up Oklahoma, that spends money outside of an election has no obligation to list its donors or report spending data.

Coon, of the Gooden Group, said Step Up was formed as an LLC “to quickly organize a large constituency of Oklahomans for a short-term effort.”

Anyone can create an LLC by paying $100 to the Secretary of State and filing articles of organization. No information is required beyond the name and address of the registered agent, who often works for a law firm that files many incorporation papers. LLCs do not pay corporate income taxes; rather their profits and losses typically are reported on the owners’ personal income tax forms. The owner or owners of Step Up Oklahoma have not been disclosed.

In contrast, nonprofit organizations with federal tax-exempt status, such as No New Oklahoma Taxes, are required to report spending information under general categories as well as other details on their tax returns.

Such groups must provide donor information to the IRS, but it’s allowed to be kept secret on the organization’s public tax filings. And since the IRS requires the disclosure on an annual basis, there is often a lag time of up to nearly two years between the time the spending occurred and when it becomes publicly disclosed through the IRS.

Oklahoma’s lobbying rules also shed little light on what groups for or against the Step Up plan spent on the effort. Individuals must register as lobbyists if they spend money directly on legislators – meals, sporting event tickets, etc. – or work for a “lobbyist principal” who pays them to influence specific legislation. Promoting legislation as an individual or groups of individuals is protected speech under the First Amendment.

Jeff Raymond / Oklahoma Watch

A sign on the door of Rep. Ross Ford, R-Broken Arrow, announces his support of the Step Up Oklahoma Plan.

Most of the companies or associations listed as part of the Step Up coalition supporters employ their own paid lobbyists at the Capitol.

But Oklahoma law doesn’t require lobbyists to detail how much time or effort they devote to each client.

Unlike some other states, Oklahoma doesn’t require lobbyists to reveal what bill or topic they are discussing when they buy a meal for a state official. Lobbyists, who sometimes have more than dozen clients, also don’t have to list what specific client they are representing when they buy a meal or a gift.

Any information connecting lobbyists to gifts or meals in the immediate build-up to the Step Up tax vote won’t be known until March 5 – the deadline for lobbyists to list their February spending totals.

Lawmaker Perspectives

Sixty-three lawmakers ended up voting for the Step Up Oklahoma proposal last week – far short of the 76 needed to clear the three-fourths threshold,

Rep. Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City, who voted for the measure, said she was inundated with calls, emails and visits from supporters and opponents of the plan.

Munson also said she was contacted by lobbyists and business leaders pushing the Step Up proposal, including David Rainbolt, executive chairman of BancFirst Corp and Devon co-founder Larry Nichols.

Munson said many of her constituents contacted her office after reading news reports or because they follow the legislative process. Others responded after receiving direct-mail advertisements and robo-calls, including those from Step Up Oklahoma supporters.

“This coalition obviously had the resources to get their message out, and I know they sent direct mailers to (legislators) and members of my district,” she said. “And you don’t do that unless you have the money to do that type of thing.”

Not all lawmakers were lobbied equally.

Rep. Tom Gann, R-Inola, said he saw little pressure outside of the usual residents from his district who tend to weigh in on tax proposals.

Gann, who was one of the 35 no votes on the main Step Up Oklahoma revenue bill, is a member of the Legislature’s Platform Caucus – a group of fiscally conservative lawmakers who have routinely opposedtax increases.

As a result, he said, no lobbyists or Step Up Oklahoma coalition members even tried to win him over. And he said only about 25 percent of the constituents he heard directly from told him to vote for the plan.

“It was almost dead silence,” he said. “There just wasn’t this huge grassroots groundswell telling me go up and raise taxes.”

]]>http://oklahomawatch.org/2018/02/21/step-up-campaign-highlights-gap-in-state-disclosure-laws/feed/0http://oklahomawatch.org/2018/02/21/step-up-campaign-highlights-gap-in-state-disclosure-laws/NRA’s Campaign Cash Only a Trickle in Oklahoma. Who Gets the Money?http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/okwatch/~3/bLg2tcOFjLE/
http://oklahomawatch.org/2018/02/19/nras-campaign-cash-only-a-trickle-in-oklahoma-who-gets-it/#respondTue, 20 Feb 2018 02:17:18 +0000http://oklahomawatch.org/?p=288175In Oklahoma, it’s no secret that residents strongly support the Second Amendment and their right to own firearms.

But despite Oklahoma’s image as a ruby-red Republican stronghold, the state’s politicians aren’t awash in cash from the gun lobby. An Oklahoma Watch check of campaign finance records shows relatively little spending by the National Rifle Association on Oklahoma politicians.

The NRA often draws attention for its political influence after a mass shooting such as the one last Wednesday in which 17 people were killed at a Florida school. The incident reawakened questions about whether stricter gun-control laws could prevent such tragedies. Students at the Florida school where the shooting occurred want to create a “badge of shame” for politicians who accept NRA support.

At least one Oklahoma congressional member, Sen. James Lankford, called for improvements in the background check system. President Donald Trump signaled a similar position on Monday.

Here’s a look at the amounts of campaign cash given by the NRA to candidates, including incumbents. The relatively low amounts likely reflect the fact that the NRA spends much of its money on competitive races, such as the presidential race, and less on races with more predictable outcomes for candidates who support the NRA.

Legislative Candidates

Oklahoma candidates for legislative seats received $4,500 in the 2016 elections, filings with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission show. Oklahoma state candidates saw the following contributions from the NRA’s Political Victory Fund in 2016:

The NRA also gave $5,000 to the Committee for the Inauguration of Gov. Mary Fallin in February 2015. In 2016, the organization gave $200 to the Republican State House Committee, which recruits GOP candidates.

Congressional Candidates

Nationwide, the NRA donated $18,950 in the 2016 election cycle to Oklahoma U.S. House and Senate candidates, all Republicans, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The amounts:

U.S. Rep. James Bridenstine: $2,000.> U.S. Rep. Tom Cole: $3,000.> U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas: $2,000.> U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin: $4,950.> U.S. Rep. Steve Russell: $2,000. (Russell owns a company that manufactures firearms online.)> U.S. Sen Jim Inhofe: $0. (During his most recent campaign, in the 2014, election cycle, he received $9,450.)> U.S. Sen. James Lankford: $5,000.

That’s just a small slice of the organization’s spending on candidates nationwide. In 2016, the NRA gave $818,150 to congressional candidates, with 99 percent of the contributions going to Republicans, according to Center for Responsive Politics data.

So far in the 2018 election cycle, the NRA has donated $1,000 to Lucas and $1,000 to Russell.

Independent Expenditures

The organization’s larger spending in politics is through independent expenditures, which don’t directly go to candidates’ campaigns but are spent to help or oppose those running for office. The NRA spent $19.2 million nationwide on independent expenditures in the 2016 election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

But Oklahoma candidates benefitted little from that spending. Out of the $19.2 million, just $190 was spent to support one Oklahoma candidate: Mullin. More than $9 million of the independent expenditures went toward the presidential race.

An affiliated group, the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, spent $33.3 million during the 2016 elections, none of it on Oklahoma races.

A state political action committee, the Oklahoma 2nd Amendment Association, filed its first paperwork to operate as a PAC in October 2016 to support “pro-2nd Amendment legislation and candidates,” state filings show.

So far, the organization hasn’t spent any money on Oklahoma candidates.

From mid-October 2016 through the end of 2017, the organization raised $19,804, records show. Its expenditures during that time totaled $12,966, going to towards expenses such as website hosting services, Facebook ads and podcast services. The expenditures also included a $291.99 Beretta Nano 9mm pistol from the Palmetto State Armory in Columbia, S.C.

]]>http://oklahomawatch.org/2018/02/19/nras-campaign-cash-only-a-trickle-in-oklahoma-who-gets-it/feed/0http://oklahomawatch.org/2018/02/19/nras-campaign-cash-only-a-trickle-in-oklahoma-who-gets-it/Is a Teachers Strike Imminent?http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/okwatch/~3/pFS1-134lcc/
http://oklahomawatch.org/2018/02/19/is-a-teachers-strike-imminent/#respondTue, 20 Feb 2018 00:25:47 +0000http://oklahomawatch.org/?p=288166Budget cuts to education are mounting. And on Monday, the Oklahoma House moved to reduce funding for state agencies for the current fiscal year.

The state Education Department stands to lose $16.2 million. Combined with higher education and other education agencies, the losses would be nearly $22 million.

Attempts to raise revenue have so far failed, including a penny-on-the-dollar sales tax and a proposal by a coalition of business and civic leaders called Step Up Oklahoma. Many Oklahoma teachers say they are fed up, and there is talk of a strike.

But could it happen?

In 1990, more than half of Oklahoma’s teachers walked out of the classroom, shuttering a quarter of the state’s school districts. The walk-out was resolved when lawmakers pushed through school financing legislation to provide a teacher pay raise and education reforms.

Oklahoma was ranked 48th in average teacher salaries then, and it’s 49th today. So it should come as no surprise that an effort to strike or walk out is mobilizing.

A petition circulating online seeks support of a teacher walkout. The petition was started by Teresa Danks, the Tulsa-area teacher who famously panhandled for money to fund classroom supplies.

The petition says teachers in Oklahoma need a raise of $10,000 to be regionally competitive. “If you support a walkout by teachers to get the point across to our Legislature, sign this petition,” it reads. “Let’s try to send them a warning before it happens!” Nearly 2,800 people had signed the petition as of 5 p.m. Monday, and the number was growing.

Also, Bartlesville Schools Superintendent Chuck McCauley and the district’s school board are talking about closing schools temporarily to place pressure on the Legislature. McCauley is surveying schools across the state to gauge interest in coordinating.

“Our board is serious. We don’t have a plan right now … but we’ll see what our community says,” he said.

On Monday night, the Bartlesville school board planned to talk about the failure of the Step Up Oklahoma during its meeting tonight, and there is significant public interest in the discussion, McCauley said. No action will be taken, he said.

An Oklahoma law prohibits a teacher’s union from striking or threatening to strike “as a means of resolving differences with the board of education.” But if teachers walk out to protest the state Legislature, that would be different, said Doug Folks, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union.

Folks said the OEA is not at this time organizing a statewide effort to strike or walk out, even though the union led the charge in 1990.

Oklahoma’s 1990 strike was preceded by one the same year in West Virginia, one of two states with starting salaries lower than Oklahoma’s at the time, according to a report in the New York Times.

Tensions over teacher pay have again been rising in West Virginia, and union leaders on Saturday announced a statewide walkout will start this Thursday, reports the Charleston Gazette-Mail. Teachers there earn an average of $45,622, which is 48th in the nation and slightly higher than Oklahoma’s average of $45,276, according to the National Education Association.

One risk is the potential backlash. The 1990 reforms were funded by income and sales tax increases, which then spurred anti-tax activities that led to placement of State Question 640 on the 1992 ballot. The measure, which passed with 56 percent of the vote, requires a three-fourths majority vote of both legislative chambers, or a vote of the people with majority approval, to approve any tax increase. It’s a near-impossible hurdle and has garnered blame from many circles for the current stalemate at the Legislature.

The Step Up Oklahoma plan calls for rolling back the threshold to 60 percent of votes in the Legislature, but it’s unclear when a vote on the bill will happen and if it will pass. A Facebook group and several lawmakers also have called for repeal of SQ 640.

This story was produced in partnership with Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX. For more, go to revealnews.org/redlining.

Fifty years after the federal Fair Housing Act banned racial discrimination in lending, African Americans and Latinos continue to be routinely denied conventional mortgage loans at rates far higher than their white counterparts.

This modern-day redlining persisted in 61 metro areas even when controlling for applicants’ income, loan amount and neighborhood, according to a mountain of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act records analyzed by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting.

The yearlong analysis, based on 31 million records, relied on techniques used by leading academics, the Federal Reserve and Department of Justice to identify lending disparities.

It found a pattern of troubling denials for people of color across the country, including in major metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia, St. Louis and San Antonio. African Americans faced the most resistance in Southern cities – Mobile, Alabama; Greenville, North Carolina; and Gainesville, Florida – and Latinos in Iowa City, Iowa.

No matter their location, loan applicants told similar stories, describing an uphill battle with loan officers who they said seemed to be fishing for a reason to say no.

“I had a fair amount of savings and still had so much trouble just left and right,” said Rachelle Faroul, a 33-year-old black woman who was rejected twice by lenders when she tried to buy a brick row house close to Malcolm X Park in Philadelphia, where Reveal found African Americans were 2.7 times as likely as whites to be denied a conventional mortgage.

Sarah Blesener / Reveal

Rachelle Faroul, 33, called the experience of being rejected twice by lenders when she tried to buy a Philadelphia home on her own “humiliating.”

The analysis – independently reviewed and confirmed by The Associated Press – showed black applicants were turned away at significantly higher rates than whites in 48 cities, Latinos in 25, Asians in nine and Native Americans in three. In Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital, Reveal found all four groups were significantly more likely to be denied a home loan than whites.

“It’s not acceptable from the standpoint of what we want as a nation: to make sure that everyone shares in economic prosperity,” said Thomas Curry, who served as America’s top bank regulator, the comptroller of the currency, from 2012 until he stepped down in May.

Yet Curry’s agency was part of the problem, deeming 99 percent of banks satisfactory or outstanding based on inspections administered under the Community Reinvestment Act, a 40-year-old law designed to reverse rampant redlining. And the Justice Department has sued only a handful of financial institutions for failing to lend to people of color in the decade since the housing bust. Curry argued that the law shares part of the blame; it needs to be updated and strengthened.

“The Community Reinvestment Act has aged a lot in 40 years,” he said.

Since Curry departed nine months ago, the Trump administration has gone the other way, weakening the standards banks must meet to pass a Community Reinvestment Act exam. During President Donald Trump’s first year in office, the Justice Department did not sue a single lender for racial discrimination.

The disproportionate denials and limited anti-discrimination enforcement help explain why the homeownership gap between whites and African Americans, which had been shrinking since the 1970s, has exploded since the housing bust. It is now wider than it was during the Jim Crow era.

This gap has far-reaching consequences. In the United States, “wealth and financial stability are inextricably linked to housing opportunity and homeownership,” said Lisa Rice, executive vice president of the National Fair Housing Alliance, an advocacy group. “For a typical family, the largest share of their wealth emanates from homeownership and home equity.”

The latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show the median net worth for an African American family is $9,000, compared with $132,000 for a white family. Latino families did not fare much better at $12,000.

What Lenders Keep Secret

Lenders and their trade organizations do not dispute the fact that they turn away people of color at rates far greater than whites. But they maintain that the disparity can be explained by factors the industry has fought to keep hidden, including the prospective borrowers’ credit history and overall debt-to-income ratio. They singled out the three-digit credit score – which banks use to determine whether a borrower is likely to repay a loan – as especially important in lending decisions.

“While quite informative regarding the state of the lending market,” the records analyzed by Reveal do “not include sufficient data to make a determination regarding fair lending,” the Mortgage Bankers Association’s chief economist, Mike Fratantoni, said in a statement.

The American Bankers Association said the lack of federal enforcement proves discrimination is not rampant, and individual lenders told Reveal that they had hired outside auditing firms, which found they treated loan applicants fairly regardless of race.

“We are committed to fair lending and continually review our compliance programs to ensure that all loan applicants are receiving fair treatment,” Boston-based Santander Bank said in a statement.

New Jersey-based TD Bank, which denied a higher proportion of black and Latino applicants than any other major lender, said it “makes credit decisions based on each customer’s credit profile, not on factors such as race or ethnicity.”

Reveal’s analysis included all records publicly available under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, covering nearly every time an American tried to buy a home with a conventional mortgage in 2015 and 2016. It controlled for nine economic and social factors, including an applicant’s income, the amount of the loan, the ratio of the size of the loan to the applicant’s income and the type of lender, as well as the racial makeup and median income of the neighborhood where the person wanted to buy property.

Credit score was not included because that information is not publicly available. That’s because lenders have deflected attempts to force them to report that data to the government, arguing it would not be useful in identifying discrimination.

In an April policy paper, the American Bankers Association said reporting credit scores would be expensive and “cloud any focus” the disclosure law has in identifying discrimination. America’s largest bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co., has argued that the data should remain closed off even to academics, citing privacy concerns.

At the same time, studies have found proprietary credit score algorithms to have a discriminatory impact on borrowers of color.

The “decades-old credit scoring model” currently used “does not take into account consumer data on rent, utility, and cell phone bill payments,” Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina wrote in August, when he unveiled a bill to require the federal government to vet credit standards used for residential mortgages. “This exclusion disproportionately hurts African-Americans, Latinos, and young people who are otherwise creditworthy.”

Sarah Blesener / Reveal

Point Breeze is a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in Philadelphia. Most of the loans there are going to white newcomers.

A Case Study: Philadelphia

Philadelphia was one of the largest cities in America where African Americans were disproportionately turned away when they tried to buy a home. About the same number of African Americans and non-Hispanic whites live in the City of Brotherly Love, but the data showed whites received 10 times as many conventional mortgage loans in 2015 and 2016.

Banks also focused on serving the white parts of town, placing nearly three-quarters of their branches in white-majority neighborhoods. Reveal’s analysis also showed that the greater the number of African Americans or Latinos in a neighborhood, the more likely a loan application would be denied there – even after accounting for income and other factors.

When Faroul applied for a loan in April 2016, she thought she was an ideal candidate. She holds a degree from Northwestern University, had a good credit score and estimates she was making $60,000 a year while teaching computer programming as a contractor for Rutgers University. Still, her initial loan application was denied by Philadelphia Mortgage Advisors, an independent broker that made nearly 90 percent of its loans to whites in 2015 and 2016.

“I’m sorry,” broker Angela Tobin wrote to Faroul in an email. Faroul’s contract income wasn’t consistent enough, she said. So Faroul got a full-time job at the University of Pennsylvania managing a million-dollar grant.

But that still wasn’t enough. When she tried again a year later, this time at Santander Bank, a Spanish firm with U.S. headquarters in Boston, the process dragged on for months. Her loan officer kept asking for new information, she said – or sometimes the same information again.

By this time, Faroul had been trying to get a mortgage for over a year, and the process itself was damaging her credit. Every time a lender pulls a hard inquiry on a credit report, the score goes down to guard against people who are trying to take on a lot of debt.

“They had done so many hard pulls that my credit score had dropped to 635,” she said.

Then, an unpaid $284 electric bill appeared on Faroul’s credit report. It was for an apartment she didn’t live in anymore. She paid the bill right away, but the bank said it couldn’t move forward.

Civil rights groups and real estate professionals said Faroul’s experience follows a familiar pattern of discrimination by banks and mortgage lenders that has kept people of color from building wealth.

“It’s one thing after another. It’s like pulling layers off an onion,” said Arlene Wayns-Thomas, president of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, which represents African American real estate professionals.

Wayns-Thomas, who has been selling real estate for 30 years, said her black clients are treated differently by lenders.

“They may not like what happened between the last time you were working on this particular job to this one. They may see there was a gap,” she said. “I have seen situations where they’ve asked people for the children’s birth records.”

“The things that happen behind the scenes is what’s disturbing,” she said.

A Change of Tune from Lenders

For Faroul, things suddenly took a turn for the better after her partner, Hanako Franz, agreed to sign on to her loan application. At the time, Franz – who is half white, half Japanese – was working part time for a grocery store. Her most recent pay stub showed she was making $144.65 every two weeks. Faroul was paying for her health insurance.

The loan officer had “completely stopped answering Rachelle’s phone calls, just ignored all of them,” said Franz, 32. “And then I called, and he answered almost immediately. And is so friendly.”

A few weeks later, the couple got the loan from Santander and bought a three-bedroom fixer-upper. But Faroul remains bitter.

“It was humiliating,” she said. “I was made to feel like nothing that I was contributing was of value, like I didn’t matter.”

Contacted by Reveal, the lenders defended their records. Tobin, who turned down Faroul on her first application, said race played no role in the rejection.

“That’s not what happened,” she said and abruptly hung up. A statementfollowed from Philadelphia Mortgage Advisors’ chief operating officer, Jill Quinn.

Faroul’s loan officer at Santander, Dennis McNichol, referred Reveal to the company’s public affairs wing, which issued a statement: “While we are sympathetic with her situation, … we are confident that the loan application was managed fairly.”

Reveal’s analysis of lending data shows that nationally, Santander turned away African American homebuyers at nearly three times the rate of white ones. The company did not address that disparity in its statement but said it was more likely to grant a loan application from an African American borrower than five of its competitors.

Sarah Blesener / Reveal

Pedestrians pass a now-closed Santander Bank branch in Philadelphia late last year.

Redlining History Repeating

Lending patterns in Philadelphia today resemble redlining maps drawn across the country by government officials in the 1930s, when lending discrimination was legal.

Back then, surveyors with the federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation drew lines on maps and colored some neighborhoods red, deeming them “hazardous” for bank lending. Leading causes of risk, according to government officials, included the presence of African Americans or immigrants.

This practice has been outlawed for half a century. And for the last 40 years, banks have had a legal obligation under the Community Reinvestment Act to solicit clients – borrowers and depositors – from all segments of their communities.

But in many places, the law hasn’t made much difference. When you combine home purchase loans, refinancing and home equity lines of credit, banks were more likely to deny a conventional loan application than grant it in more than 40 percent of Philadelphia. People of color were the majority in nearly all those neighborhoods.

“You’re killing us here,” said Cindy Bass, a member of the Philadelphia City Council, who worked for a mortgage company before entering politics. The data shows banks have frozen out borrowers in much of her district – including Nicetown, a North Philadelphia neighborhood where boarded-up row houses dot the landscape.

Nicetown is among the neighborhoods redlined in the 1930s. In his assessment, government surveyor W.R. Hutzel said the hazardous neighborhood had some positives, including “new industry – good transportation” and a high school. On the other hand, he wrote, it had a “heavy concentration of negro.”

Today, the economic recovery largely has bypassed Nicetown. Blight is a major concern. Some of the vacant homes, empty for years, have attracted squatters. Although it’s just a few blocks from Temple University Hospital, banks and mortgage brokers largely stay away. Lenders have been particularly stingy when it comes to home improvement loans. From 2012 to 2016, they made 67 home improvement loans here and denied 315.

“It creates this cycle where properties fall into dilapidation for a long period of time,” said contractor Eric Marsh Sr., 48, whose family has lived in Nicetown for three generations.

Marsh started his own construction business “because I saw dilapidation and empty houses,” he said, and wanted to help. But because banks rarely lend here, there’s no capital to improve the neighborhood. So Marsh gets most of his jobs in more affluent sections near the center of town.

“I was wondering why people weren’t purchasing these houses or renovating them,” he said. “As I’ve gotten older and talked to people, I’ve found out that a big part of it is the lack of lending in neighborhoods like this.”

‘It’s Like a Glass Ceiling’

It’s not only historically redlined areas that suffer from a lack of credit. Some neighborhoods that were predominantly African American decades ago have since gentrified and are now majority white. Today, they benefit from a large number of home mortgages from banks.

Other neighborhoods that experienced white flight after World War II have become home to a substantial black middle class. And in those neighborhoods, banks are more likely to turn away borrowers.

Four miles from Nicetown, toward the suburbs near the Awbury Arboretum, the homes of Germantown are set back from the street behind garden patios and beautiful stone facades.

This area wasn’t redlined in the 1930s. Government officials colored it green – “the best” – and blue, which meant “still desirable,” and told banks to lend here. Back then, most residents of Germantown were white.

Today, this part of Philadelphia is majority African American, and the homes are occupied by middle-class workers – teachers, nurses and union craftsmen. Yet in every year from 2012 to 2016, banks denied more conventional loans of all types than they made in Germantown.

“It’s like a glass ceiling,” said Angela McIver, CEO of the Fair Housing Rights Center in Southeastern Pennsylvania. “OK, we’ll allow you to go this far, but … you’re not going to go any further.”

]]>http://oklahomawatch.org/2018/02/17/for-people-of-color-banks-are-shutting-the-door-to-homeownership/feed/0http://oklahomawatch.org/2018/02/17/for-people-of-color-banks-are-shutting-the-door-to-homeownership/Upcoming ‘Watch-Out’ Forum: The State of Foster Carehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/okwatch/~3/ZasGz9rGK2c/
http://oklahomawatch.org/2018/02/17/upcoming-watch-out-forum-the-state-of-foster-care/#respondSat, 17 Feb 2018 16:03:33 +0000http://oklahomawatch.org/?p=286858Oklahoma Watch will host a public forum Thursday, March 15, in Oklahoma City about the challenges faced by foster children and the state’s efforts to find people willing to provide homes for them.

Featured panelists will include Ed Lake, director of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, and Jami Ledoux, director of child welfare services for the agency

The Oklahoma Watch-Out forum, which is free and open to the public, and will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive in Oklahoma City. Those interested in attending are encouraged to register online.

Oklahoma Watch Executive Editor David Fritze will moderate the discussion. Audience questions will be allowed during the second half of the program.

Since 2012 Oklahoma has been under the terms of a settlement of a class-action civil rights lawsuit requiring improvements in its foster care system. That effort has coincided with an economic boom and bust, a state budget crisis, an opioid and meth epidemic, and persistent social issues. DHS recently received a positive report about its progress toward foster-program goals, but problems remain.

About the Panelists

Ed Lake

Ed Lake has served as director of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services since Nov. 1, 2012. The agency is the state’s largest, with about 6,000 employees and a $2.2 billion budget. About a million Oklahomans each year are touched daily by state and federal human services programs administered by DHS.

Lake came to Oklahoma from Nashville, Tennessee, where he worked at many levels of the Tennessee Department of Human Services from 1973 to 2011, when he retired as the deputy commissioner. His term there included experience with comprehensive restructuring and change – a challenge he would face when he arrived to take over the Oklahoma department in 2012.

DHS is focusing on improving client services and building support among legislators, contract providers, advisory groups, advocates and other groups.

Lake earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from East Tennessee State University and a master’s degree in social work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Jami Ledoux has served as director of DHS child welfare services since 2014.

Previously, Ledoux served as deputy director of continuous quality improvement and staff development for the unit, responsible for programs such as training, quality assurance, practice model implementation, children and family services reviews, and the child welfare information system.

She assisted in the development of the Pinnacle Plan and leads the reform effort. She makes use of extensive data in developing practices, policies and quality improvement.

Ledoux, who has a master’s degree in social work, began her career with DHS in 2001 as a permanency planning child welfare services worker in Oklahoma County.

]]>http://oklahomawatch.org/2018/02/17/upcoming-watch-out-forum-the-state-of-foster-care/feed/0http://oklahomawatch.org/2018/02/17/upcoming-watch-out-forum-the-state-of-foster-care/Non-Christian Denominations Could Be Shut Out of House Chaplain Programhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/okwatch/~3/q2XJVU3JJVE/
http://oklahomawatch.org/2018/02/16/non-christian-denominations-could-be-shut-out-of-house-chaplain-program/#respondFri, 16 Feb 2018 17:54:47 +0000http://oklahomawatch.org/?p=286776

Jeff Raymond / Oklahoma Watch

Imam Imad Enchassi delivers a sermon during Interfaith Jummah Prayer Day at the state Capitol Friday.

This story was updated at 3 p.m. Monday to include comments from the Freedom From Religion Foundation

Faith leaders are looking for answers after a Republican legislator issued guidelines that could block a large swath of the state’s religious community from leading lawmakers in prayers that kick off each day of the legislative session.

Rep. Chuck Strohm, R-Jenks, who is the state House of Representative’s chaplain coordinator, sent a letter at the beginning of the year asking that legislators only nominate a faith leader from “the representative’s own place of worship” to be the House’s Chaplain of the Week or Chaplain of the Day.

Strohm’s letter, obtained by Oklahoma Watch, states the program is “not a platform for personal agendas, but an opportunity to ask for God’s wisdom and to speak blessing and hope over those who are often overwhelmed by the many voices that are converging upon them.”

But the apparent restriction on who may lead the prayer during the daily address has prompted concerns that many religions would be left out since the House is dominated by members of the Christian faith.

Shannon Fleck, director of community engagement for the Oklahoma Conference of Churches, which represents 600,000 members from Protestant, Roman Catholic, Episcopal and historically black churches, said the policy is troubling because she is not aware of any Muslim or Jewish lawmakers.

She said many Christian denominations also have little or no representation.

“By limiting legislators to pull from their individual faith traditions for legislative chaplains, the opportunity has been stripped from our elected officials to have any exposure to the vast and beautiful religious practices that make up this great state,” she wrote in a Feb. 1 letter to Strohm. “Additionally, those who practice religions other than the majority in Oklahoma are being told their voice does not matter, their religion is less important, and they are being actively and succinctly shut out.”

Fleck said it is possible that the policy – one she wasn’t aware of previously – was in response to Rep. Jason Dunnington, D-Oklahoma City, nominating Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City Imam Imad Enchassi to be Chaplain of the Day last year.

Imam Imad Enchassi

Fleck said she has heard “various excuses” why Enchassi’s chaplaincy request was not approved, but there hasn’t been an official response.

Enchassi said he was informed he was nominated in January 2017 to be the daily chaplain and didn’t learn he was rejected until months later. He said he received “zero answers” from Strohm regarding why he was rejected, leading him to believe it was because of his faith.

Enchassi said he planned to not go public with his story but then he found out about the letter Strohm sent asking that representatives’ nominations come from their places of worship.

“I checked with all the rabbis and there are zero Jewish representatives in this building (the State Capitol) and, of course, we have no Muslim representation in this building – or Buddhists either,” he said following a sermon on tolerance and discrimination during Friday’s Interfaith Jummah Prayer Day at the Capitol.

“Do you know what that means? It means we are not welcome,” he said.

Calls to Dunnington, Strohm and House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, were not returned Friday.

Rep. George Young, D-Oklahoma City, who was the senior pastor at Holy Temple Baptist Church, said he didn’t find out about Strohm’s guidance until last week.

Young said he was disturbed by a policy that would effectively block many faiths from speaking to the Legislature and called it “divisive.”

But Young said he plans to see how serious Strohm is about the guidelines as he intends to nominate Enchassi to be Chaplain of the Day this session.

“And if he turns me down, he’s going to tell me why,” Young said.

House rules state that the chaplain must attend the start of each day’s session of the House and open with a prayer. Chaplains also are given up to five minutes during the Thursday session to deliver remarks.

Strohm’s letter explaining the program says chaplain requests will be processed as they are received and “scheduling and participation will be based on a first come, first serve basis.” He also wrote that requests for exceptions to the guidelines will be “handled on an individual basis.”

The Rev. Lori Walke, who is on the board of directors of the Interfaith Alliance Foundation of Oklahoma, said even a suggested policy can have a chilling effect on the voices lawmakers hear.

Walke, of the Mayflower Congregational Church in Oklahoma City, said she has concerns whether it’s proper for religious leaders of any sect leading a legislative body in prayer to start the session in the first place. But she said if the program exists, it should be inclusive as possible.

“Right now they are really limiting what voices can be heard, even among Christians,” she said. “But there are many voices and faiths that deserve to be heard.”

News of Strohm’s guidelines additionally earned a rebuke from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a nonprofit group that has sued the federal government and states over church-and-state issues.

Andrew Seidel, an attorney and director of strategic review for the group, wrote Strohm on Monday that “prayer at government meetings is unnecessary, inappropriate, and divisive.” But, echoing Walke, he said if prayers are allowed they are constitutionally required to be “inclusive and non-discriminatory.”

“Put simply, if you want to have prayers, you must allow some you may not agree with,” Seidel wrote. “This proposed policy is institutionalized discrimination and a disturbing attempt to codify Christian privilege.”

About a dozen new and holdover bills that would overhaul Oklahoma’s criminal justice system are in the legislative pipeline.

Although it’s too early to tell, there are indications the bills have momentum. In her State of the State address, Gov. Mary Fallin again endorsed bills recommended by the Oklahoma Criminal Justice Reform Task Force and urged, “Send them to me to sign.” House Speaker Charles McCall later assured, “Criminal justice bills will move forward.”

Advocates for changes in the system are cautiously optimistic but recall what happened in the 2017 session, when eight of a dozen key criminal-justice bills got bottled up in committee and were held over for this year. Another bill died; three passed and were signed by Fallin.

Oklahoma Watch put together a scorecard, if you will, with bills that proponents say could lead to a significant drop in rates of incarceration in prisons and jails and greater use of alternative treatment programs.

The bills would enact changes along all stages of the criminal justice system:

At Apprehension

Bypassing JailHouse Bill 3694: Would allow more people to be free on their own recognizance instead of being jailed for non-violent misdemeanors. Intended to address situations such as when a defendant fails to show up for a court date to pay a speeding ticket. Currently, a bench warrant is issued and the person will be arrested.Status: Referred to Rules Committee on Feb. 6. No votes yet.Main author: Rep. Kevin Calvey, R-Oklahoma City.Note: Calvey said the bill would mean that if a police officer pulls someone over and learns they have an unpaid traffic ticket, they aren’t automatically arrested. Instead, they would get a citation and a court date. Alternative collection methods could potentially be through fines added onto utility bills. Calvey said it would save time and money.

Bail and AttorneysSenate Bill 1021: Would allow defendants to get court-appointed attorneys after posting bail. Under the existing system, defendants cannot get a court-appointed attorney if they make bail, which causes many to go without representation because they can’t afford an attorney.Main author: Sen. Stephanie Bice, R-Oklahoma City.Status: Referred to Senate Appropriations Committee on Feb. 6. No vote yet.Note: Oklahoma is one of a handful of states in which the ability to post bail disqualifies an inmate from receiving a court-appointed attorney.

At Sentencing

General SentencingSB 689:Would give judges and prosecutors more discretion and options for sending people to treatment and supervision programs instead of prison. Fines and fees for some offenders would be reduced.Main author: Sen. Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City.Status: In 2017, it passed the Senate, 41-0, and the House with amendments, 65-18. Sent to conference committee, where it is now.

Property Crime SentencesHB 2281: Reduces penalties for 21 property crimes, including larceny and forgery, that involve $1,000 or less. The sentence could be up to one year in jail.Status: In 2017, it passed the House, 84-8, and the Senate with amendments, 37-5. Sent to conference committee after House rejected amendments.Main author: Rep. Terry O’Donnell, R-Catoosa.Status: Passed the House, 67-17, this session. Now goes to Senate.

Drug Possession SentencesSB 969: Under the bill, State Question 780, which makes simple drug possession a misdemeanor instead of felony, would become retroactive. It would allow people already convicted of felony drug possession to seek a sentence reduction in court. A judge would take into account factors such as time served and good behavior.Main author: Sen. Roger Thompson, R-Okemah.Status: Sent to Judiciary Committee. No vote yet.Note: Thompson said it would affect about 855 inmates and yield cost savings of $9.8 million a year. “They’re non-violent offenders,” he said. “Let’s take a hard look at it.”

Drug Trafficking SentencesHB 2293: Would reduce sentences and remove life sentences for drug trafficking offenses. Would also allow prison sentences for separate drug offenses to run concurrently.Main author: Rep. Terry O’Donnell, R-Catoosa.Status: Introduced in 2017 and didn’t get a vote. Referred to Judiciary Committee. No vote yet.

Repeat Offenders SentencesSB 649: Would reduce the amount of extra prison time that nonviolent offenders would get for being repeat offenders.Main author: Sen. Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City.Status: Passed the Senate, 44-0, and the House, 54-36, with amendments and went to conference committee, where it is now.

Burglary SentencesSB 786: Would reduce the minimum sentence for second-degree burglary and create a third-degree charge for burglary of an automobile.Main author: Sen. Wayne Shaw, R-Grove.Status: Passed the Senate, 26-19, and the House with amendments 64-20. Went to conference committee, where it is now.

Forgery SentencesSB 789: Would put a tiered sentencing system in place for forgery-related crimes, including making cases involving property worth less than $1,000 a misdemeanor instead of a felony.Main author: Sen. Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City.Status: No votes yet; now in the Public Safety Committee.

In Prison

Parole EligibilityHB 2286: Would set up an administrative parole process and enact other changes to make parole more widely available. For crimes committed after Nov. 1, it would make offenders eligible for parole after serving one-fourth of their sentence. The current minimum requirement is one-third of a sentence.Main author: Rep. Terry O’Donnell, R-Catoosa.Status: In 2017, it passed the House, 81-3, and the Senate with amendments, 42-1. Now in conference committee; no votes yet.

After Release

SB 650: Would reduce the waiting time for nonviolent offenders to get their records expunged, from 15 years to seven years.Main author: Sen. Wayne Shaw, R-Grove.Status: In 2017, it passed the Senate, 45-0, and the House with amendments, 71-17. Now in conference committee; no votes yet.

At Every Stage

Expunging a RecordSB 793: Would create the Corrections and Criminal Justice Oversight Task Force to track and measure the outcomes of criminal justice system changes. The 17-member group would be made up of various representatives, including prosecutors, advocates and law enforcement officials.Main author: Sen. Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City.Status: In 2017, it passed the Senate, 45-0, and the House with amendments, 71-23. Sent to conference committee, where it is now.

Preston Doerflinger speaks at the Cleveland County Health Department in November 2017.

Updated Feb. 13

The Oklahoma State Department of Health is looking for a new interim commissioner after Preston Doerflinger abruptly resigned Tuesday.

The Board of Health voted unanimously to accept Doerflinger’s resignation, which came one day after allegations of a 2012 domestic dispute in Tulsa were reported by The Frontier.

Toward the end of its regular monthly meeting, the board voted to go into executive session to discuss Doerflinger’s employment status. After almost two hours behind closed doors, the board voted to accept his resignation, effective immediately.

It’s unclear what impact Doerflinger’s resignation will have on lawmakers’ efforts to increase oversight of the health department or on the work of a public-health delivery committee Gov. Mary Fallin appointed after problems at the agency came to light.

Legislation would remove the requirement that the health commissioner have an advanced degree in a public health-related field in order to allow candidates with financial backgrounds. Other legislation would allow the governor to appoint the heads of the health department and several other agencies, independent of their governing boards.

Health board president Martha Burger did not specify any reasons for Doerflinger’s resignation. His letter didn’t go into any detail.

Later Tuesday afternoon, Doerflinger resigned as finance secretary for Gov. Mary Fallin. He also stepped down as director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services. An OMES spokeswoman confirmed that Doerflinger would not return to the agency.

The board appointed Brian Downs as acting health commissioner until a new interim commissioner can be found. Downs was most recently the agency’s director of state and federal policy.

Paul Monies / Oklahoma Watch

Brian Downs

“We have convened a committee that will begin to vet potential interim commissioners,” Burger said. “Hopefully, we will have candidates ready to vet and finalize in the next 30 to 60 days.”

In a statement, Downs said the health department has a “strong leadership team in place.

“We have a dedicated leadership team that is committed to get OSDH back on sound financial footing,” Downs said. “Our entire organization remains focused on protecting the health of all Oklahomans and restoring confidence in this agency.”

Doerflinger became interim health commissioner in November after previous Commissioner Terry Cline and other top agency leaders resigned amid financial turmoil.

The Board of Health set Doerflinger’s salary at $189,000 at its Jan. 9 meeting. That was about $17,000 more than he was making as OMES director.

Doerflinger clashed with State Auditor and Inspector Gary Jones in December over whose agency should have caught financial problems at the health department. Both men had testified before a special investigations committee convened by the Oklahoma House to look into the health department and other agencies.

Meanwhile, several investigations continue into health department finances, including those by a state multicounty grand jury, the FBI and a special audit. The Legislature propped up the agency in November through a special emergency appropriation of $30 million. In addition, dozens of employees were laid off in early December, and another 161 people will lose their jobs by March.

Doerflinger’s resignation comes less than two weeks after a public spat with then-Finance Secretary Mike Romero, who played a key role in identifying the department’s financial issues. In a back-and-forth salvo of memos and press releases, Romero accused Doerflinger of perpetuating problems at the agency and improperly hearing grand jury testimony. Doerflinger accused Romero of not paying invoices on time and poorly managing the department’s financial division.

In a statement, Fallin said Doerflinger played a “critical role” in saving the state money through his work at OMES and as a member of her Cabinet.

“I was unaware of the personal situation involving Preston and his ex-wife almost six years ago. Mrs. Doerflinger did not contact my office about this matter,” Fallin said. “I take domestic violence very seriously, but I will take Mrs. Doerflinger at her word that this matter was not a case of domestic violence.”

Step Up Oklahoma supporters crowded the House gallery Monday. The plan was on the path to failure, although House leaders held the vote open for hours.

Lawmakers are right back where they started after a much-anticipated vote to pass one of the largest tax increases in state history fell short in the state House.

Despite business luminaries and hundreds of educators filling the Capitol in support of the Step Up Oklahoma Plan, the revenue-raising proposal only received 63 votes, which was 13 votes shy of passing the constitutionally required three-fourths threshold for revenue-raising bills.

Voting no was a mixed group of anti-tax Republicans and Democrats, who disagreed with how new income taxes were distributed and claimed the gross production tax rate on oil and gas production was too low.

The Legislature now appears without a plan to find new revenue to pass a teacher pay raise plan and fill a hole in the current year’s budget and shore up next year’s budget. Here’s a look through social media at how they got here and what’s next after a marathon day at the Capitol.

The Plan

The Step Up Oklahoma plan, a budget proposal crafted by business leaders and endorsed by Gov. Mary Fallin, has been in the works for two months.

The plan gradually drew support from advocacy groups around the state. Supporters billed it as the best revenue package that could pass the Legislature. But, just a week after lawmakers gaveled in for the 2018 regular session, legislative leaders decided to put it to a crucial test — getting 76 votes in the 101-member chamber.

The #okleg House has gaveled in to take up HB1033 ( the @StepUpOklahoma plan that increases taxes on tobacco, motor fuel, oil/gas production from 2% to 4% for first 36 months and adds new wind/solar tax) and the $5k teacher raise bill pic.twitter.com/MBDiqdzn81

Here’s the current party breakdown of the #okleg House. So even if all 71 Republicans votes yes (and that’s won’t happen), they would need at least five Democrats to et it passed 2/ pic.twitter.com/M6DzT64eyA

One of the biggest crowds in recent memory filled the Capitol ahead of the vote as education supporters and others who backed Step Up Oklahoma put pressure on lawmakers to pass the plan.

Big gathering of education supporters now in the Capitol, urging for a yes vote on today’s @StepUpOklahoma tax plan (increases taxes on tobacco, motor fuel, oil/gas production to 4% for 36 months, adds new wind/solar tax and provides teachers with $5K raise) #okleg#oklaedpic.twitter.com/NjghMzL5Yi

In addition to 5% GPT, $.75 cig tax increase, capping wind credits and asking tribes to “step up” and decline future rebates from tobacco sales, @OCPAThink president Jonathan Small say revenue plan should include state question to use TSET for Medicaid costs #oklegpic.twitter.com/elb8Wevklz

After much anticipation, lawmakers finally got to have their say when debate on the bill began. Members of both parties ratcheted up the rhetoric as they made their case why it should pass or die.

Former Budget Chair Rep. Leslie Osborn (R) debating for the bill: There is no such thing as a perfect budget bill or a perfect compromise … but what you can do is come together with the best option #okleg

Speaker @charles_mccall3 now debating for the bill from the well of the House. Notes that this is the first time as speaker has debated a bill for/against on the floor. “I’m debating now because it’s not time to be silent. It’s time for action.” #okleg

Rep. Murdock (R) debating against (first Republican to do so): We are looking at a $590M tax increase across Oklahoma … I do not disagree we need revenue and our teachers need a pay raise … but we need to vet this. We need this bill to go through the process. #okleg

Budget Chair Rep. Wallace (R) for the bill now: We have to fix FY18 budget, there is a gap, and there is constitutional requirement, this is our best option. There are things in this for everyone. A no vote on this is a vote for the status quo. #okleg

The only people saying this is the last and best chance at fixing things are people who aren’t willing to keep working on it. And I don’t accept that. I’m here. I’ll keep working. https://t.co/Nb8qWGOOJE

Rep. Virgin (D): Our caucus has asked for fair equitable plan, including income tax, something that put our gross production tax at least not at the bottom of the barrel compared to other states #okleg

I made a tough vote today, but I listened to my constituents. No one said this would be easy and I certainly do not claim in to be. The #StepUp plan has many flaws: decrease in standard deduction, double tax on renewables, and increasing the gasoline tax. 1/

Red lights lit up quickly on the House of Representative’s vote board as many lawmakers quickly cast their no votes seconds after debate ended.

The proposal appeared headed for a quick demise as the vote tally soon went to 61-35 — far short of the margin needed to pass. But Republican leaders, hoping to convince enough lawmakers to switch their votes, left the vote open for hours.

Few lawmakers ended up changing their votes as the measure headed toward defeat.

Quick #okleg fact check: In blaming Dems, McCall is right that more Repubs voted for the bill (53/72 or 74%) than Dems (10/28 or 36%). But what he’s leaving out is that Dems delivered enough votes (they needed at least 4) to pass the bill if he delivered the entire GOP caucus https://t.co/xQ31ZTEyE2

#okleg House vote on $580 million @StepUpOklahoma revenue plan that would have raised taxes on tobacco, oil/gas, wind and motor fuel fails on 63-35 vote (needed 76 to pass). Here is the final roll call sheet: pic.twitter.com/z4utt1etz4

The Legislature ended its daylong session Monday without a clear picture of what is next to come. Although House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, said there will be no other revenue packages considered this session, Democrats said they are willing to return to the negotiating table to find a compromise.

If this holds true, a teacher pay raise during the 2018 session is dead.

But it means the proposed state question, which could be on the November general election ballot, to pay for teacher raises by upping all oil/gas wells to 7 percent just got a major boost. #okleghttps://t.co/56BQPPyWDP

David Rainbolt, BancFirst Executive Chairman and @StepUpOklahoma supporter on likely defeat of the tax plan “this is a dark day for education … we have lost the teacher pay raise .. we have lost the ability to govern” #okleg

“Today’s failure by the Oklahoma House of Representatives to pass HB1033xx is disheartening to state employees and those they serve. It also leaves them wondering if more services cuts are on the horizon for later this year.”

The failure of today’s $5K teacher pay raise is a soul-crushing blow for education. Each day our teacher shortage goes unaddressed we put our children at further risk. I’m grateful for every legislator who voted with education today. We fight on! #OklaEd#OKLeg@oksde

]]>http://oklahomawatch.org/2018/02/12/step-up-plan-stumbles/feed/0http://oklahomawatch.org/2018/02/12/step-up-plan-stumbles/Only a Handful of Prison Inmates Get Treatment for Deadly Diseasehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/okwatch/~3/AIkVWhJoqX4/
http://oklahomawatch.org/2018/02/11/only-a-handful-of-prison-inmates-get-treatment-for-deadly-disease/#respondSun, 11 Feb 2018 17:19:43 +0000http://oklahomawatch.org/?p=284717Inmates in Oklahoma prisons must have advanced liver disease before becoming eligible for treatment of hepatitis C, a potentially deadly and growing disease.

The situation in prisons pits the enormous cost of treatment against the public health gains of curing one of the populations most at risk for the viral infection.

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections reports that more than 2,700 inmates have hepatitis C. But in response to queries from Oklahoma Watch, the agency said that since July 1 it has treated just five inmates with life-saving antiviral drugs, which cure more than 90 percent of patients. Those inmates reached a level of liver scarring that met criteria for treatment; others may not reach that stage for years.

Public health advocates and experts say much more effort is needed to treat inmates infected with hepatitis C before their conditions worsen or they are released and put others at risk. The disease is spread through intravenous drug abuse and sexual contact.

A cost of $29,161 per inmate is the obstacle to comprehensive treatment. The Corrections Department is asking for $79.4 million in fiscal year 2019 to treat all 2,724 inmates diagnosed with hepatitis C. The big-ticket item is part of Corrections Director Joe Allbaugh’s request for an additional $1 billion next year.

The price tag for treatment drugs dwarfs the department’s current spending on them. It has spent $86,408 on hepatitis C antiviral drugs so far this fiscal year, department data shows.

The request for hepatitis C treatment drugs is nearly five times the $17 million the department expects to spend this year for all pharmaceuticals to treat all medical conditions.

By not treating more inmates, the department also is taking a risk that it will be sued.

That has happened in other states, including Missouri, Colorado, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Florida.

In Florida, a federal judge in November ordered treatment of thousands of inmates with hepatitis C and sharply criticized the state’s corrections system for inaction. Just seven inmates out of about 20,000 with hepatitis C were getting treatment when the lawsuit was filed.

“The judge ordered them to begin immediately staging and treatment of inmates,” said Randall Berg, an attorney with the Florida Justice Institute, which represents the inmates. “He wants the ones that are sickest to be given direct-acting antivirals first.”

In Oklahoma, the prospects of getting additional funding from the Legislature to treat all inmates now is slim.

Lawmakers face a $600 million-plus budget hole and must balance thedepartment’s request with those of other agencies for education, health and highways.

A legislator and anesthesiologist, Sen. Ervin Yen, said the right thing to do is fund the treatments. But he said it will be a tough call in a troubled budget cycle.

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t spend all that money on those folks, but … that’s big bucks,” said the Oklahoma City Republican. “I certainly don’t have a magic answer to that question.”

More Inmates with Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C takes different forms. In the acute stage, which occurs within the first six months of being exposed, the disease can clear on its own. The majority of acute cases become chronic hepatitis C, which can stay with a person for life unless treated and lead to liver cancer or cirrhosis. It can take years for symptoms of hepatitis C to appear and lead to a diagnosis. Symptoms of the liver inflammation include abdominal pain, jaundice and loss of appetite.

Oklahoma had the highest estimated rate of hepatitis C infection in the nation, according to a 2017 study from Emory University and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study estimated Oklahoma had about 94,200 residents with hepatitis C in 2010, or about 2.5 percent of the population. The rate of new infections slowed in 2014 and 2015, but the CDC warned that the opioid addiction crisis, which is severe in Oklahoma, is helping drive hepatitis C infections. More than 19,600 Americans died of the disease in 2015, although deaths and infections are undercounted.

The illness is more prevalent among inmates.

The percentage of prison inmates diagnosed with the disease has risen from 6 percent in 2013 to nearly 10 percent in late 2017, corrections data shows. The Corrections Department attributes at least some of this increase to better screening of inmates during the intake process.

Some data from recent years point to rare or nonexistent treatment. The state’s corrections system was only treating one inmate with hepatitis C on July 1, 2016, according to data compiled by the Council of State Governments, which surveys state correctional systems. The Corrections Department doesn’t dispute the figure but notes it is a point-in-time snapshot of how many inmates were undergoing treatment on that day, not for the entire year.

Low figures emerge in other years, too. The department reported that it treated no inmates on July 1, 2015, and three inmates on July 1, 2014.

Separately, a national point-in-time survey by the journal Health Affairs found that Oklahoma was one of four states that reported none of its diagnosed inmates was in a hepatitis C treatment program on Jan. 1, 2015. The highest treatment rate was 5.9 percent in New York.

The Corrections Department declined to make its medical director available for an interview, saying he was unavailable.

What Triggers Treatment

Hepatitis C experts and public-health advocates say treating inmates is a common-sense step to keep the disease from spreading after they are released.

“Prisons and jails are ground zero,” said Michael Ninburg, executive director of the Hepatitis Education Project, a Seattle-based advocacy group. “(Halting the disease’s spread) is not going to happen unless we start to treat hepatitis C in the correctional setting. So it’s a way to dramatically reduce the mortality and disease burden.”

Matthew Elliott, spokesman for the Oklahoma Corrections Department, said more states are moving toward testing and treating inmates.

“There is certainly support for this from public health organizations because of the potential to eradicate the disease,” he said in an email.

Oklahoma inmates are screened for evidence of liver disease when inmates enter the prison system – men at the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center and women at the Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in McLoud.

Last year, the department began using a more comprehensive blood test panel to screen new inmates for enzymes that indicate liver disease. If enzymes are detected, a follow-up test is ordered that directly checks for hepatitis C. Inmates are prioritized for treatment based on the extent of liver damage. The department’s policies require evidence of progressive liver damage before inmates become eligible for treatment. Inmates also must be free from alcohol and drugs and not have poorly managed chronic medical conditions or recent tattoos or piercings.

Although only a handful of inmates get the drugs that cure them, the department said it monitors all inmates and treats the symptoms of those who don’t qualify for the drugs.

Elliott said the department’s policy is based on policies of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, which also prioritizes treatment based on scarring level. Oklahoma’s policy applies to inmates in privately run prisons, too.

Elliott said the $79.4 million budget request would cover treatment and genetic testing for diagnosed inmates. Tests are required to determine the most effective antiviral medication. The average cost of an inmate’s treatment is an estimated $28,861. Genetic testing is another $300.

The request doesn’t cover future needs. Elliott said the funding request wouldn’t pay for testing or treatment of not-yet-diagnosed inmates or new inmates entering the system.

A separate Pew study on pharmaceutical costs in prison health systems found that newer, more effective and expensive drugs for hepatitis C that came out in 2013 and 2014 have elevated the issue of prescription drug costs. In that study, 21 state corrections agencies said the rising cost of hepatitis C drugs is a concern. Since then, drug costs have started to decline.

In response, states have reported prioritizing treatment for the disease based on its stage and using objective criteria, said Maria Schiff, with The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Ninburg, of the Hepatitis Education Project, said the Florida order bodes well for inmates seeking treatment.

“That ruling is likely to be the first of many,” he said.

For now, the cost of drugs combined with the knowledge of how many Oklahoma inmates have the disease creates tough questions. Should treatment be delayed if an inmate will exit the system before there is any liver scarring? Is the state liable for damages if that inmate infects someone else after release from prison?

The practice of prioritizing treatment based on the degree of scarring saves the state tens of millions of dollars a year but also means some inmates deteriorate while awaiting treatment.

Outside prison walls, the medical world views hepatitis C like any other disease: Early treatment offers a better outcome for the patient and saves money in the long run. Antiviral drugs, which typically must be taken two to three months before curing the patient, are better than a liver transplant.

“From the medical point of view, my answer is ‘yes’ because I’m a doctor,” Dr. Harlan Wright, who treats liver conditions at the University of Oklahoma’s Oklahoma Transplant Center, said about early treatment.

The other group that benefits is local communities, Ninburg said.

Most inmates are released and reintegrate into society. Although SoonerCare, the state’s Medicaid program, pays for hepatitis C drugs, many newly released inmates don’t meet the income and other criteria to qualify for SoonerCare. The program doesn’t cover prison inmates.

“By treating them now and curing them now, not only are we preventing an early death, we are also preventing transmission to other community members when the prisoner gets out,” Ninburg said.

“If you are a lock them up and throw away the key type of person, as wrong as that is, what you cannot argue with is the fact that correctional health equals public health.”